RIM delays its annual meeting with investors until after the launch of BlackBerry 10

Historically, RIM has met with the Wizards of Wall Street during the BlackBerry World conference which will take place in May. This year, with the Canadian manufacturer about to make one of the most important launches in company history, RIM has decided to change things up. Instead of meeting with Wall Street during the BlackBerry World conference, RIM will focus the latter on its customers, developers and its partners and push back its talk with investors.

Speaking with Reuters, RIM spokeswoman Tenille Kennedy said, " "We will hold a separate session targeted at the interests of the investment community later this year, once BlackBerry 10 is launched." BlackBerry 10 is the new OS that was inspired by the QNX software used on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. While no precise date for the investor's meeting was given, RIM is expected to release at least one BlackBerry 10 powered smartphone by the end of the year.

Last week, RIM said that it is giving away prototypes of the BlackBerry 10 smartphone to developers at the BlackBerry Jam conference in May. These phones are being handed out so that developers can get the hang of writing for the new OS. The final consumer model of the phone is expected to be different from the prototype. Originally RIM was thought to be releasing a number of BlackBerry 10 models at one time, but that has been reduced to one model that at times has been called the BlackBerry London or the BlackBerry Blade.

Wall Street pencil pushers are expecting RIM to announce a poor quarterly report Thursday after Wall Street closes for the day. Expectations are that RIM shipped 11 million BlackBerry units in the period, the low end of analysts' estimates. Others see RIM announcing even weaker results. The company's stock has a 52 week high of $57.85 and is currently trading at $13.60.

source: Reuters